Sewing & printing like a machine....

I have been absent for a few days (sad face). I have been working so damn hard on my blog, & focussing on the consistency of writing. I really enjoy it, & it's been a goal to improve it. Like any task in life, if you want to improve that muscle, then use it. Same goes for writing.

As you know I work from home around the kids. That act of juggling is a job within itself. My hours are not regular, & I work in chunks of time, an hour or two here & there, & most of the time at night. The last month my routine has literally been thrashed around left right & centre. It's been a real challenge I am not going to lie. I never sugar coat my life, it is what its is, & I am sure, actually positive it's similar to other mums who work from home.

About 2 years ago I sub contracted my sewing out to another wonderful mum, who also works from home. She is the back bone of my business when it comes to getting it all together for me. She is the angel that comes every Wednesday to drop off & collect. We have become quite the team & have worked together on several different projects o keep generating income for the both of us.

Well my back bone has gone to Canada for a month to visit her family. When she goes there is no good time, some times are worse than others, like Christmas trading, a big no way! In her absence I have been left with all of the sewing. Now she subcontracts to me because I don't have time to do it, I just have my hand in to many pies so to speak. So you can probably imagine how swamped I have felt these last 3 weeks. I have literally printed, prepped & sewn non stop. I have become this well oiled machine that just keeps going. Sounds great, but very little creativity, writing & web work has been happening.

As hard as it's been I just keep thinking of every positive I can. Another thing I have been focusing on lately, when things aren't going your way, look on the bright side! I can definitely say thank goodness I can sew, & sew well for that matter. I would have no idea how I would have coped, or how any customer would have receive an order if I didn't. It's a lovely wake up, & great to remember to where everything I have learnt began. At one stage of my life all I did was sew, making my clothes was heavenly!

I basically wanted to let you know I am here, just running a little behind.
I hope your day, week & month has been a lot more smooth sailing for you xx

New Foxy Designs

I have a couple of new designs to share with you. 

Foxes are still loitering around, so felt the need to create some of my own. I actually really loved drawing these, so much cuteness & fun.

Both are available in my shop.

Have a beautiful weekend.

Words to inspire

Sometimes when we work work work, we forget about the simple things. I am so incredibly guilty of this at time, & the last few months I have really been making a conscious effort to slow down a tad. With the kids increasingly busy schedules, & trying to fit in all the hours of work I do, & do the daily mundane necessities, it can get exhausting & time just flies around you. 

Sometimes it can be the smallest of comments from your kids that literally hit you for six & wake you up. This happened the other day to me. I had got home from school & Hudson asked me, "why don't we play & be silly anymore mummy?" I had to ask him to explain. He said when "we get home from school you're always so busy & we don't play anymore, you are either in the kitchen (cooking), or in your work room, sometimes I wish we could just have fun". Ummmmm hello, my heart ripped open & I was so flooded with mummy guilt. After some explaining to him that life has changed now that he is at school, he won't get to be with me everyday with me like he used to. 

He reminded me that our time together is far more limited than it used to be. Generally after school they have activities on, so even though we are together it's not that quality 'together' time. It's so bloody hard!! As much as he was so spot on, I must be clear though, when we are home he is happy & has a million of things to occupy him, including a sister, but obviously more time with me is what he wants. 

After thinking about this I was wondering how to fix it, as I was feeling awful, & yes the mummy guilt was spreading all over me. I have had to keep it simple as I do not have the time to spend hours playing with him, but absolutely we have the time to on the days we come home straight after school to play. Going outside with him to kick the footy, watch him ride his bike, he loves hides & seek around the house (even though he laughs the whole time so there is no challenge), & he is a big fan of lego, & challenging me on mario cart! 

By making these little changes I have noticed he is smiling more than normal! Thank goodness Charlotte is happy to join in as I don't know what I will do when she starts with this!

I want to give you 25% off PLUS a free print

I am wanting to ask again a very BIG favour. I am really very excited about the work I am doing behind the scenes here in order to make my online store an even better place to shop.
I am at a point where I need to know more about my customers. What you like about my products? How you use them? Was your purchase everything you expected? Did you buy it for you or as a gift? What would you love to see in the collection.

I am also in the middle of developing a new product & would like you thoughts & if or how you would use them. To get this golden knowledge I need to call you, & would appreciate it if you allowed me to do so. I would take no longer than 5 minutes of your time. That's it....I promise.
As a thank you I am offering a big thank you.

You can help me two ways by emailing me at tigesandweince@gmail.com with your name & phone number. Or you can click on this LINK & fill your details in online.

By doing this for me will give you 25% off your next order, I will give you the code when I speak to you. You will also be able to select any small print kids or adults you would like, valued at $25.00

At this stage I can only offer this to Australian residents.

Thank you so much & I really look forward to chatting with you all very soon.

Tuesday Treasures

This weeks Tuesday Treasure are super girlie, cute, aimed at the little girl, around the toddler age to pre-school. It is a very pretty combination & one that I know would make little ladies squeal with delight.

I have chosen my most loved cushion design. I call it the pink classic & it's the very first girls cushion design I ever created, & is still to this day one of my best sellers. I sell it in several colours now, but the design is still the same. I have also added my doorstop & print to coordinate with the other lovely treasures I have found.

Product sources 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

A night I will never forget

I have just had a weekend I will never forget. My baby girl did her very first dance cabaret on Saturday night. This was a first for me to as I have never done anything like this myself. I should let you know I never danced when I was younger, only at disco's, at home, with friends at parties, & clubs as I got older. I was very sporty, lots of softball, netball, running & I loved girls cricket. My daughter Charlotte has entered a field so foreign to me, it's almost laughable. Actually my friends who know me well, or who I played those sports with, think its random to.

photo prior to arriving at Saturday nights venue

Anyway a quick background story, I started Charlotte in mummy & me ballet at 2yrs old. At home she always bounced to the music, & there was no much else around for "us" to do together. I couldn't stand Gymbaroo, so this was something we could do together while Hudson was at kinder, she loved it SO much. I eventually pulled her from it to follow her current teacher at the time to start ballet, she was opening her own dance school, & was a professional prima ballerina herself. I must add she was such an adorable person herself. It was such a magical school I adored it, it was very musical theatre based. Can I tell you I ADORE the theatre, & once dreamed of being a costume designer.

Charlotte was quite confident there & she enjoyed it, but a lot of mums still danced with their kids, I had a feeling, call it mothers instinct that she needed to do this alone. So I took her to her now current dance school. I had to stay close to her for a couple of weeks for her to warm up to everyone, & a very new routine, but after that she hasn't looked back. It's great I get to sit & watch her behind a glass wall. She thinks of nothing else but how many times I can take her there in a week, & is always looking up to the older girls.

Some photo's from the night

She has been practising for 6 months for Saturday nights show, she did 6 dances which blew me away. I wasn't sure she would do it, & I felt really nervous for her as she didn't really stop very much, as after each dance there wasn't a huge amount of time to rest. I completely underestimated her & felt a pang of annoyance at myself for thinking it. Charlotte can get stroppy when she is tired & she rehearsed the Friday night before & the Saturday morning. I couldn't get her to nap on Saturday which is why I was worried. But she did it & I couldn't be more proud of her. 

It's been a real learning curve becoming a "dance mum', something I would never have predicted in a million years. I do love it as having a background in fashion I love the costume, hair & make up, I love the creative side of things. The dance side, well I just keep asking questions, thats just me though if I don't get it I ask & ask until I do. I have met some great girls also from students, teachers & mums just like me, but with load more experience. 

It's been such a magical ride & I have enjoyed every moment, there is so much for her to still learn, I forget how tiny she is sometimes, she only turned 4 in May this year. It really feel like she has been doing this forever. I am not sure how long this dancing will last, I will never push her, just encourage her & tap her along, but as long as she is loving it so will I.

How I put together my product collections - Step 6

Yay you have made it to the final step. I am assuming you're feeling proud, excited, pumped and so incredibly eager to share your work with the world.

If you have several collections within your online shop, it would be a great idea to now categorise them into their collections. For example if it's called "summer Lagoon", group it together. I love the brand Mozi, & they do this really well, have a look at how they group their collections together.
It isn't essential to do that if it doesn't work for your brand. I personally just categorise each of my different products together under one shop category within my store. So all of my personalised cushions  are together, door stops, heat bags are together and so on. You can have a look at how they are placed just below.

Although I have categorised them like this, if you look within each area of my products they have been given product name that will automatically identify them as their own mini collections. For example my new Sweet Fawn collection, is called Sweet Fawn personalised cushion, sweet fawn door stop, sweet fawn clock & so on. So they are still together as a mini collection but just separated for cataloging reasons.

It really is important that the consistency previously discussed in the past steps is followed. It's always going to keep your collection tight look and looking sharp in your shop, which is really important when current & new potential customers visit your store. The goal is to make coordinating and shopping as easy as possible.

You have worked really hard on your collection and it's really important that everything looks professional an that customers will take your shop seriously. Be very clear in your product area so customer can easily navigate from item to item, making it clear and simple. that last thing you'd want is confusion, as lets me honest they will leave very quickly.

Putting collections is one of the most exciting things I love to do. It really is like creating a baby, from the initial ideal to growing it carefully with care & attention to detail. Once it's born, enjoy every moment of it, maintain it and proudly show your passion to everyone.

I hope you have enjoyed this series. It's been a thrill writing it.

If you would like to re read any of the steps you can start again right here.

If you love what you've read please share this information to anybody you feel  would appreciate it.